How do you show a person drowning on stage?

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 6:22pm

I'm writing a play in which one character drowns. If I could have this happening off stage, I would, but this event is the climax of act one. It needs to be shown.

Do I just write the scene as is and let the director take care of it?

I'm at a loss.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 6:26pm

All you do is write it.

Let them tell you that it can't be done.

Chances are, it can be. And if they say it can't, they're lazy.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 6:27pm

Ask Susan Stroman.

THOU SHALT NOT... DROWN ON STAGE!



P

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 6:29pm

I would say leave that to the director. As for some examples, Les Miserables had Javert jump off a bridge that merely went up into the flys to create the illusion that he was falling. Then he just rolled around on the stage rather bizarrely until the lights went out.

The Little Mermaid actually had Eric suspended by cables "floating" mid stage which, depending on where you were sitting and whether or not you could see the wires, looked pretty convincing. At least, to me.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 6:30pm

Coram Boy used floating, and it was gorgeous and moving

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 6:46pm

I can't remember the title, but my aunt saw a play in which a character drowned. She described the scene as this:

Empty stage
Blue lights
and an actor, thrashing in a net.

She said it was very effective.

[Weez]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 7:28pm

Black-out and sound effects?

But yes, you write it, and let the director solve it. Those are your respective jobs. :P

[jonmbway4652]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 7:36pm

when my school did a play that had a drowning scene we had 3 long sheets of sheer white fabric. 1 person would hold the sheet at one end and the other person would hold it at the other and both people moved the fabric up and down. we had three sheets going and the person drowning was in between that fabric and was flailing their arms. as the character continued to drown the people lifted the fabric sheets up higher and higher and tilted them while the person drowning made their exit. This was very effective. You could also add blue lights and sound effects

[Pgenre]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 7:58pm

THOU SHALT NOT, all joking aside, had quite a thrilling drowning sequence...

... the boat rocking centerstage on one of THREE turntables (Stroman went all out with TSN)... "Tugboat, Tugboat..." etc...

... then, after Craig Bierko's character knocked Norbert overboard and you thought he was dead and Craig and Kate Levering look at each other, about to embrace - dead silence - and then Norbert appears, swinging his soaking wet hair (just a bucket of water hidden by the boat, I'm sure) to make the water fly across the stage and catch the light, also pulling himself up back into the boat only to be beaten to death with the oar... END ACT ONE.

The rest of the show was... the rest of the show! Who could forget the titilating Bed Ballet and the ghostly group Gangbang Ballet!

A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 9:27pm

I can't remember the title, but my aunt saw a play in which a character drowned. She described the scene as this:

Empty stage
Blue lights
and an actor, thrashing in a net.

She said it was very effective.

It sounds like the production of Cloudstreet I saw at the National in London. The character doesn't die, though he becomes severely brain damaged (his transformation was amongst the finest acting I've ever seen in my life). It was an epic production. Over seven hours to see the complete play. I saw it all in one day and would have happily returned to see it again. I'm actually surprised Lincoln Center has never produced it.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 9:32pm

Pgenre - You encapsulated Thou Shalt Not very well, but forgot the pivotal suspenseful scene where Debra Monk can't speak (for the entire second act) and tries to spell out "MURDER" with Scrabble tiles. I could not stop giggling, though I felt so sorry for her. The actress, not the character. Worst show I've ever seen on Broadway. BUT the tugboat scene was the one truly effective scene in the show. The use of turntables was particularly brilliant to create the illusion of the boat floating around.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 9:57pm

The drowning scene in CORAM BOY worked flawlessly. Quite breathtaking.

Just write it as you would and let the director figure out the staging.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 1:57am

the drowning/suicide sequence of Javert in Les Miserables has always bugged me... it just looks so horribly staged!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 11:22am

The original production of SUNSET BLVD opened with Joe Gillis' floating dead body floating face down in Norma's swimming pool. As in THE LITTLE MERMAID (and mentioned above), it was done with the actor suspended in wires. With the proper lighting, the effect is quite effective.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 1:17pm

So glad someone brought up "Coram Boy"- Absolutely beautiful scene !!!!

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 1:32pm

I was about to say Little Mermaid, but BrodyFosse beat me to it!

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 3:01pm

In the Reduced SHakespeare video they simulate Ophelia drowning by splashing a cup of water in the face.

This isn't what you're looking for, of course, but funny nonetheless.

[temms]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 3:02pm

MisterMatt, you're not quite remembering the "Thou Shalt Not" Scrabble scene correctly. She was actually trying to spell out "Laurent and [whatever Kate Levering's name was] Killed [whatever Norbert's name was]", but she only got so far as "K-I", so the kindly old guy thought that she was just trying to tell the young kids to kiss. So they did.

Poor Debra Monk. She did have that nice drum solo in Act One, though.
Updated On: 10/24/09 at 03:02 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 4:19pm

Here's how we drowned Brian Stokes Mitchel at the Bowl Last summer in Le Miz...
Kabuki Style

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 6:30pm

Have two blue sheets held by actors about a foot above the ground and make them ripple. Have the drowning actor jump between the sheets and sink below them.

[Elphie3]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 7:13pm

I was drowned onstage - and it actually worked really well. You just have to have a LOT of rehearsal, and have very trust worthy actors.

The way we did it, is someone pushed my head underwater, but then, keeping their hand on my head let me completely control all my movements, and put no pressure on my head. I moved around (and screamed underwater) but was able to very subtly bring my head enough out of the water to breathe (while turning my head away from the audience), and it looked great!

[peerrjb]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 7:27pm

In a musical of mine, based on "Peer Gynt", the scenic designer came up with a spectacular moment to drown an entire shipload of people. He found a piece of pale blue spandex, and when the "drowners" fell onto the raked stage floor, the "in-black" (aka invisible) actors pulled in all directions. We had, as I recall, twelve actors under the spandex, and because it was pulled so wide (about 20 feet in all directions) you could see them flailing about, and also catch a glimpse of their faces as they pushed upward INTO the spandex over their heads. The designer also was able to put a few "slices" into it (I think he burned the edges of the fabric so it wouldn't tear further), and we had a few actors actually popping up ABOVE the spandex as they tried to breathe. It was really a brilliant stroke. And damned harrowing to watch -- until the last bodies scuttled away as if floating off and under. SO.... it ain't always the director who comes up with the great stuff.

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 7:29pm

I just saw something like this at "KA", one of Cirque du Soleil's shows in Vegas at the MGM. It was breathtaking. They pulled a scrim across the stage and the performers were lowered on wires behind it. They projected bubbles on the scrim also. It was so stunning I actually gasped.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 7:37pm

"Have two blue sheets held by actors about a foot above the ground and make them ripple. Have the drowning actor jump between the sheets and sink below them"

Uhm, did you bother looking at the video I posted right above your thread?

And you don't want 'sheets'. That looks cheap. Buy yards and yards of blue silk in different shades.

Updated On: 10/24/09 at 07:37 PM

[Weez]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 8:35pm

Oh yeah, there was an AWESOME drowning in Six Characters in Search of an Author the other year. The girl went face-first into a large fishtank on wheels, splashed around, and eventually just stopped moving until after the tank was wheeled offstage. Opinions are still divided as to whether she had underwater breathing apparatus, or whether she turned her head enough to be able to breathe but not enough for the audience to see, but it was VERY effective, as only a motionless girl face-down in a tank of water can be.

Updated On: 10/24/09 at 08:35 PM